Musical boxes for which the tunes can be composed



M. HARK-:oir

Feb. 12, 1957 MUSICAL BOXES FOR WHICH THE' lIUNEIS CAN BE COMPOSED Filed Dec. l, 1953 W vw 32 37 3 29 "94 25 25 27 MAUR/c5 HAR/cor' fffMV/W Wina United States Patent O MUSICAL BOXES FR WHICH THE TUNES CAN BE COMPOSED Maurice Haricot, Levallois-Perret, France Application December 1, 1953, Serial No. 395,562

Claims priority, application France December 13, 1952 4 Claims. (Cl. 84-97) In order to enable musical boxes to produce different tunes and to enable them to play an educational role in the musical development of children, a device has been suggested in which musical blades, tuned to various notes in the scale, can be actuated in a variable order, by actuating members on a rotary support, according to the way in which these members are inserted at will on the support. The rotary support may take the form of a drum or of a disc, and the actuating members the form of pins engaged in holes or carried by slides.

The difficulty is to ensure a rigid connection between the support and the pins which have been placed in position, without having recourse to a precision of iit and to securing means, the cost of production of which would be prohibitive. In the most simple case, where the support is a perforated disc and where the pins have to be engaged in holes in the disc, neither securing by friction nor securing by screwing is a satisfactory solution. T he former does not provide the needles with the desired rigidity, or makes it too diicult to place them in position, the latter necessitates a threading operation on the holes in the disc, which is much too onerous, while screwing in the pins requires too much dexterity for a child.

Now, if the pins are not rigidly secured to the disc, the vibrating blades are not sharply struck and released, which interferes with the purity of the sounds produced.

The present invention has as its object an improvement to musical boxes of the type in question, particularly to those which have a disc as a pin support, and provides a solution to the problem discussed.

According to the invention, the support consists of two similar perforated discs, fitting on a common driving spindle in positions related to one another in such a manner that their perforations are opposite and the movable pins comprise tips which are symmetrical in relation to an intermediate enlarged portion in such a manner that, when arranged on one disc with a tip engaged in a perforation therein, the pins are held by the superposition of the second disc with its corresponding perforations engaging the other tip and resting on the enlarged portions of the pins and pressing them against the rst disc under the action of a locking member bringing the discs together.

One embodiment of a musical box comprising the device according to the invention is illustrated on the accompanying drawing in which:

Figure l is a View in vertical section of the musical box, revealing the device;

Figure 2 is a corresponding plan view, with the lid of the box removed, the interior being seen partly in section along the line AA, partly in section along the line B-B in Figure l.

The musical box may, according to the embodiment illustrated, have the appearance of a small casket containing the musical device. The casket consists of a cabinet l and a lid 2 with hinges 3.

Inside the box and on angle brackets 4 against the bottom, rests a stand 5 forming the frame of the musical 'and secured to the disc.

l 2,780,952 Patented Feb. 12, 1957 device and held by screws 6. It may be a cast metal disc for example. It carries an elongated boss 7, one lateral face of which is radial in direction and which increases in height towards the inside. This boss serves as a support for a set of vertical musical blades 8, secured between the boss and a counter disc 9 held by screws lil screwing into said boss.

The disc S is provided in the centre with a blind bore 11 forming a fc-otstep bearing for a vertical spindle 12 which is held above this disc by a bridge 13 forming a top bearing The spindle resting in the footstep bearing with its pointed end is kept vertical by this upper bearing. Below the bridge it has keyed to it a tangential wheel 14 in mesh with a horizontal worm 15. The latter is carried by a driving spindle 16 rotating between a boss f7 and an angle piece 18 mounted on the disc The spindle 16 has a square end 19 for an external crank handle 2d.

Above the bridge 13, the spindle 12 is provided with a collar 2l on which is fixed a large diameter washer which serves as a support for a perforated disc to receive the pins actuating the musical blades. r'he above arrangements are of the known type and do not form part of the invention.

According to the invention, the pins comprise two tips 23 and 2d which are symmetrical in relation to an intermediate portion of larger diameter 25. Their support consists of two similar discs 26 and 27 each having the same radial lines of perforations 28 of the same diameter as the tips.

These similar discs are preferably of cast material. They are pierced, in the centre of a central boss 29, by a hole for the passage of the end 30 of the spindle 12; the latter may be threaded at the end to receive a knurled nut 3l enabling the discs to be locked against the supporting disc 22. This disc, in order to ensure their drive, may carry two riveted studs 32, diametrically opposite to one another. The holes pierced in the discs to receive these studs are so situated that the register of the perforations 23 is ensured when the discs are engaged in superposition on the studs 32, their bosses 29 being face to face as shown in Figure l. The height of each boss is equal to half the height of the enlarged portion 25 of the pins. On the same face, each disc may carry on its rim a stiening ange 33, of the same height as the boss.

inside the casket, the discs may be surrounded by a plywood deck 34, xed to the box at a level intermediate between the two discs and having a circular aperture cnt out of substantially the same diameter.

in order to compose a melody, the knurled nut 31 is removed, then the top disc 27. The pins are then arranged on the bottom disc 25 which is uncovered. Each pin is presented vertically and engaged with its lower tip 23 in a perforation in the disc. A booklet may be used as a guide to the composition giving for each radial line, for example, the number of the perforation to be used with reference to the circumference on which the said perforation lies. When all the pins have been placed in position, the disc 27 is replaced with its boss 29 downwards, engaging it on the end of the spindle 30 and on the studs 32. rl`he upper tips 2d of the needles are then opposite perforations 28 in the disc 27 and this disc can be lowered onto the disc 26 already in position. It comes to rest with its lower face on the enlarged portions 25' of the pins, while the bosses 29 and the flanges 33 come into Contact. The nut 31 is replaced and tightened to lock the assembly. The pins are then held vertically by their two opposite tips engaged in corresponding perforations in superposed discs and they are immobilised by the locking of their enlarged portions against the faces of the discs which makes them rigidly secured thereto.

When the handle 20 is turned, the vertical spindle 12 is driven round with the discs; the pins in the successive radial lines meet the musical blades and strike them and release them sharply, reproducing the melody composed.

In order to make the locking of the enlarged portions reliable, the two discs may be made slightly curved when cast, the central part carrying the boss 29 being slightly hollow in relation to the plane tangential to the ange 33, and the intermediate part being slightly convex. If this is so, when the discs are superimposed, the `flanges 33 come into contact first and the tightening of the nut 31 produces a progressive elastic deformation of the discs. These press the enlarged portions of the pins between them successively from the outer circumference to the centre until the bosses 29 are resting against one another. All the enlarged portions are then securely locked between the faces of the discs.

It will be seen that by means of the very simple device which has been described, it is possible to fix the pins rigidly to the rotating support and consequently to obtain an attack of the musical blades as sharp as in the musical boxes which always play the same tune and in which the attacking tips are permanently xed on the rotating support.

What I claim is:

1. A music box comprising a set of musical blades and a rotatable blade striking member, said member being formed of two similar perforated discs coaxially mounted in face to face relation with the perforations in one disc in register with corresponding perforations in the other disc, a plurality of pins each having an intermediate enlarged body portion and aligned coaxial blade striking tips extending one from opposed ends of the body, said pins being positioned between the discs with the tips of each extending through aligned perforations of the discs, and means for axially urging the discs towards each other to grip between the same the enlarged body portions of the pins.

2. A music box according to claim l in which the discs are each provided with a central boss and a marginal flange on one side thereof and in which the discs are assembled with their marginal flanges facing each other.

3. A .music box according to claim 2 in which the depth of thc central boss and the marginal :Flange of each disc is equal to about one halt the length of the enlarged body portion of the pins.

4. A music box according to claim 1 in which the discs are slightly curved and are positioned with their concave surfaces opposite each other.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

